Scott Myers

How They Write A Script: Leigh Brackett

“She wrote that [The Big Sleep] like a man. She writes good.” — Howard Hawks, quoted in “Hawks on Hawks” The “she” to whom Hawks was referring was screenwriter Leigh Brackett. Brackett, whose career spanned four decades, demonstrated incredible breadth in terms of genres with writing credits on movies as diverse

Screenwriting 101: Adam Rifkin

“You can just say, ‘Well, I’m not really inspired by an idea yet, so I’m just gonna hang out, see what hits me. Maybe I’ll write a scene and see where it takes me.’ I don’t know any writers who are successful who approach writing like

Daily Dialogue — August 30, 2016

Marty enters his house and sees Biff harassing George. Biff Tannen: I can’t believe you’d loan me your car without telling me it had a blind spot. I could’ve been killed! George McFly: Blind spot? Now, now, Biff, now I never noticed that the car had any

Are you ready for The Quest

This September, I begin a new chapter in my creative journey as an assistant professor of screenwriter at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts. As a result, I will only offer group workshops — Prep: From Concept to Outline, Pages I: Writing the First Draft, and Pages II: Rewriting Your

Zero Draft Thirty Autumn 2016 Challenge: 3 Days and Counting!

T-minus 3 days until the beginning of the Zero Draft Thirty Autumn 2016 Challenge. If you don’t know about the Challenge, you can go here to find out more. Write an entire first draft of a script in September — FADE IN to FADE OUT in 30 days. Feature

Script Analysis: “The Good Dinosaur” — Part 1: Scene By Scene Breakdown

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule: Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways Today: Scene-By-Scene

How They Write A Script: Jay Presson Allen

“She is one of a handful of first-rank screenwriters of the post-1960s who also happens to be female. This has figured into her trademark of flamboyant female characters, stories that often focus on divorce and marriage or explosive relationships, family matters (including the pilot episode of the prestigious

On Writing

“Imagination is like a muscle. I find out the more I write, the bigger it gets.” — Philip José Farmer

Daily Dialogue — August 29, 2016

Butch Cassidy: I’ve got a great idea where we should go next. Sundance Kid: I don’t want to hear it. Butch Cassidy: You’ll change your mind when I tell ya’. Sundance Kid: Shut up. It’s your great ideas that got us into this mess. I never

Zero Draft Thirty Spring 2016 Challenge: 4 Days and Counting!

T-minus 4 days until the beginning of the Zero Draft Thirty Autumn 2016 Challenge. If you don’t know about the Challenge, you can go here to find out more. But the main thing is this: If you are writing an initial draft of a story, align your mind

Write what they’re buying or sell them your dream

Let’s consider this a response to a reader question because I get this type of inquiry pretty regularly from aspiring screenwriters via email. It takes different forms: What type of stories should I focus on? I have a lot of story ideas: How do I know which one to

Screenwriting News (August 22-August 28, 2016)

This week’s writing deals and movie project news. Brandon Boyce scripted thriller “Bad Samaritan” at Electric Entertainment with David Tennant to star. Michael Gilio writing “Dark Universe” for Warner Bros. Pictures. Kevin Hageman and Dan Hageman rewriting “The Croods 2” for DreamWorks Animation. Daniel Kunka sells spec script “The

Interview (Video): Richard Tanne (“Southside With You”)

The MacGuffin interviews Richard Tanne, writer-director of the indie film Southside With You. A trailer for the movie Southside With You: The Southside With You movie website here.

Daily Dialogue — August 28, 2016

NINNY: I feel better now. EVELYN: Good. NINNY: I feel better ’cause all these people‘ll live… as long as you remember‘em. You reminded me… about what the most important thing in life is. Do you know what I think it is? EVELYN: No, ma‘am. NINNY: Friends… best

Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Blame

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Blame. “Did you hear what I said? You cheated me. I had a destiny. I was supposed to die in the field! With honor! That was my destiny! And you cheated me out of it!” Forrest Gump (1994) One thing is a lock

Saturday Hot Links

Time for the 252nd installment of Saturday Hot Links, your week’s essential reading about movies, TV, streaming, Hollywood, and other things of writerly interest. ‘Ben-Hur’: 5 Reasons the Biblical Epic is Summer’s Biggest Flop. ‘Ben-Hur’ Could Lose $100 Million at Box Office. ‘Ben-Hur’: Or How

Spec Script Deal: “The Ark”

NBC acquires drama spec script “The Ark” written by Daniel Kunka. From Deadline: The project, a grounded, modern retelling of the Noah’s Ark story from the Bible, was written by Black List scribe Daniel Kunka (12 Rounds). It centers on an engineer who, after the death of his wife,

Interview (Written): Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe”)

A /film interview with Fede Alvarez, writer-director of the thriller movie Don’t Breathe. IMDb plot summary: A group of friends break into the house of a wealthy blind man, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect heist. They’re very wrong. Excerpts from the interview: When you’

Daily Dialogue — August 27, 2016

EXT. BATTERY PARK — DAY EDWARDS, thrown for a major loop, sits like a zombie alongside KAY on a bench in Battery Park. Kay drinks his coffee while they talk. KAY: Any given time, around fifteen hundred landed aliens are on the planet, the majority right here in Manhattan. Most aliens

Learn more about monthly Black List Happy Hours in 18 cities!

As I approach the 5th anniversary of this humble site becoming the official screenwriting blog of the Black List, I am reminded — yet again — of why I’m stoked by my association with Franklin Leonard and his cohorts. To wit: The monthly Black List Happy Hour events have expanded to

Zero Draft Thirty: The Despair of the Blank Page

It all started with this blog post in October 2015: Who’s with me to pound out a script in November? That led to this: Zero Draft Thirty: Write a Script in a Month Challenge. Every day for 30 days in November, I did a Zero Draft Thirty post with

Interview (Part 5): Adam Kolbrenner, Madhouse Entertainment

This week, we are fortunate to have as our guest manager-producer Adam Kolbrenner from Madhouse Entertainment, an L.A.-based production and literary management company that works with screenwriters and writer/directors in the areas of film, television and new media. I will be posting the whole interview over

The Spirit of the Spec (Part 5): And if it doesn’t sell…

I had a conversation recently with a former studio executive turned producer in which I found myself talking about the “spirit of the spec,” essentially when a person chooses to pursue a project or goal entirely on speculation with the hopes of some eventual payoff. Not everybody would make that

Script To Screen: “Blood Simple”

The Coen brothers first feature-length film Blood Simple (1984) is arguably one of their best. Setup: Ray has been having an affair with Abby which hasn’t made her husband Julian too happy. But the tables get reversed as Ray has set about to dispatch Julian. EXT. OPEN FIELDFULL

Daily Dialogue — August 26, 2016

“What did you expect? ‘Welcome, sonny’? ‘Make yourself at home’? ‘Marry my daughter’? You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the New West. You know… morons.” — Blazing Saddles (1974), screenplay by Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew